There has been a lot of talk over the past week about the possibility of the Senate Republicans keeping many or all of the taxes that were hidden in Obamacare. But what are those taxes and why were they in Obamacare to begin with?

When Barack Obama ran for the White House, he promised that he would not raise taxes on middle and lower-class Americans. Then he turned around and tried to hide 20 different tax increases in the Affordable Care Act, most of which directly and indirectly impact the middle and lower-class people. Publicly, it appeared that Obama was keeping his promise not to raise taxes on most of us, while secretly, he was raising taxes, enough to generate close $1 trillion a year.

And now, reports are indicating that the GOP Senators working on their healthcare plan to replace Obamacare, will likely keep most, if not all, of those hidden tax increases.

Obamacare contains at least 20 different provisions which either raise existing taxes or creates new ones and many of these affect Americans making less than $250,000 per year which is his definition of middle class. Worse yet is that five of these taxes will impact the elderly the most; who in most cases can least afford it.

First is an increase tax on dividends which began on January 2013. The prior tax rate for dividend income was 15%, but that increased to 39.6% for anyone receiving dividend income. Previously, taxpayers 55 years and older received nearly 70% of paid dividends according to an analysis of IRS data. Anyone making more than $250,000 per year now have to pay an additional 3.8% surtax on dividends which makes their dividend tax a whopping 43.4%.

The second tax also took effect in 2013 and that is the medical device excise tax. All medical device manufactures now pay an excise tax on all of the medial devices they produce such as wheelchairs, pacemakers, walkers, knee braces, back braces, insulin pumps, home hospital beds, etc. Seniors are the largest purchasers of these devices and will assuredly see the prices for them increase to offset the taxes paid by the manufacturers.

The third tax issue that is being felt by all Americans is the reduction in the allowable medical itemized deductions on your federal income taxes. Previously, taxpayers had to subtract 7.5% of their adjustable gross income from their itemized medical deductions. As of 2013, everyone has to subtract 10% of the adjustable gross income instead of 7.5%, thus reducing the amount of medical deductions one can claim on their federal income taxes. If a couples adjusted gross income was $50,000 a year, they have to subtract $5,000 from the medical expenses instead of the $3,750, a difference of $1,250, which is a lot for many families and seniors. Again, according to IRS figures, about 60% of those claiming itemized medical deductions are 55-years-old and older.

The fourth tax to impact the elderly the most was the excise tax penalty for those who were not in compliance with the individual mandate part of Obamacare. As of 2014 those individuals who do not have qualified health insurance will pay a penalty in the form of an excise tax when filing their federal income taxes. In 2016, that penalty was increase to 2.5% of your adjusted gross income or $1,390 for anyone making less than $55,600 per year. A number of younger retirees are not old enough for Medicare and no longer are covered by their former employer’s coverage. This group is going to get hit the hardest. Additionally, many elderly are trying to survive on very tight budgets and cannot afford any kind of health insurance. This excise tax will also hit them hard.

The fifth tax is commonly referred to as the Cadillac Plan excise tax which is scheduled to take effect in 2018. Believe it or not, this plan will impose a 40% excise tax on high –cost insurance plans. For senior couples, this means if you are paying more than $29,450 for a family plan, you will be imposed a 40% excise tax for your exorbitant health insurance. A single senior paying more than $11,500 a year will also be slapped with the 40% excise tax. Seniors with extra insurance to cover such things as cancer and chronic illnesses or disabilities will be the ones most likely to be gouged with the Cadillac Plan excise tax. In other words, if you are paying for extra coverage to cover life threatening illnesses and disabilities, you either need to lower your coverage so it will cost you more out of pocket or Obamacare will tax you more which will cost you more out of pocket.

Mind you that these five taxes are all on top of the other fifteen taxes that will affect everyone including seniors. It’s just that these five will hit seniors harder than they will the rest of Americans.

President Trump is promising a new healthcare plan that will be great for everyone, but if that’s the case, then why keep the hidden taxes which hurts seniors and many middle and lower-class Americans? It doesn’t make sense, but when you realize that any form of nationalized healthcare is a socialist plan, then you quickly realize that no replacement will be good for the people or the economy.

What are the principles that made America the great, powerful and prosperous nation it once was?

How prosperous are nations who have embraced the various forms of socialism? Generally, these nations have a few wealthy individuals who control and dictate all of life to the majority of the citizens and what has happened to most of them? Why did the former Soviet Union collapse from within and why did the Berlin Wall come down, leading to a unified Germany?

Why has the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, been such an utter failure?

Would you believe that all of these things are tied together? It’s called socialism and socialistic economy.

The Soviet Union collapsed because their socialist economy collapsed from within. The Berlin Wall was torn down when the socialistic economy of East Germany collapsed, leading to a unified Germany.

Obamacare failed because it’s a socialistic program to force government control over the people and health industry. Think about it, Great Britain launched their socialist national healthcare system, known as the National Health Service in 1948. For over a decade, it has been plagued with financial woes.

I have close friends in England who have shared their struggles with the National Health Service. One friend had to wait 7 months to have her extremely inflamed and painful gall bladder removed because of the NHS red tape, She and others I know in the UK have told me that as the NHS runs into more financial difficulty, the taxes to pay for it have gone up and their coverage has gone down. A growing number of common medical procedures that were once covered are no longer covered, meaning that the British people are having to pay more and more out of pocket for their medical needs.

Now, the Republicans in Congress are trying to come up with a workable replacement for Obamacare, but they have been trapped by the socialist Democrats to replace one failed socialist national healthcare system with another national socialist healthcare system that will also be destined to fail.

The simple and best solution is to look at what made America the great, powerful and prosperous nation it once was.

America was built on a free market system with healthy business competition. Generally, when a number of companies compete for the same business, it keeps the prices lower.

“Health care reform is an enormous challenge because when it comes to economic policy, Republicans always have an uphill battle. Their free market solutions are harder to sell in a nation that has long had one foot in the socialism door.”

“Republicans express their belief in the free market, especially when they’re out of power and running against liberals and their failed policies, but they have a tougher time governing on conservative principles once in office. They often operate on flawed assumptions, seeking to accomplish contradictory goals and operating in an environment with two-year election cycles, which discourage making correct decisions for the long term.”

“But the GOP must recapture its belief in free market principles and muster the patience and political courage to promote them. Competition and free markets are the best avenues to economic prosperity, liberty and, in the case of health care, accessibility, affordability and quality. Yes, we must support some kind of safety net, but it ought to be designed to be short-term in as many cases as possible and should create incentives to encourage people to help themselves.”

So, what is the obvious and seemingly elusive key to real healthcare reform? The Promotion of a free market system with healthy competition between healthcare providers. If only Republicans in Congress would take the lessons of American history and use them to reform healthcare from what the socialistic Democrats forced upon on us to something that will be economically more feasible for the American people and the insurance companies.

The news is full of all kinds of reports on what’s in and not in the proposed GOP healthcare plan which Republicans hope will replace Obamacare. Realize that most of the reports the public are hearing or reading are coming from ultra-liberal mainstream media outlets who are bent on destroying everything done by conservatives, Republicans and the Trump administration.

The relationship between liberals (mainstream media and Democrats) and conservatives (Republicans and Christians) has been described in terms generally used in divorce cases – IRRECONCILABLE DIFFERENCES.

The American Culture & Faith Institute conducted a survey which clearly displays the deep divide between the two warring political factions in our nation. One interesting facet of the survey is that the single most important issue causing the irreconcilable differences between the two political worldviews has to do with one’s worldview of God.

Drawing from a nationwide survey of adults that measured how many people have a biblical worldview, the research discovered that people who are politically conservative are more than twice as likely as those who are politically liberal to have biblical positions on the twenty belief indicators tested by ACFI. In addition, the survey found that political conservatives are about 60% more likely to hold biblical positions on those indicators than are those who qualify as politically moderate.

There were 15 belief statements among the 20 included in the survey for which conservatives were substantially more likely than liberals to hold a biblical point of view – that is, a difference between the two groups of at least 25 percentage points. Those included the following differences:

Saying that God is the all-powerful, all-knowing, perfect creator of the universe who still rules it today (a 43 percentage point difference between the two segments)

Strongly agreeing that the main purpose of life is to know, love, and serve God (40-point gap)

Asserting that everyone is a sinner in need of a savior, repentance and forgiveness (39-point difference)

Believing that the Bible is the word of God, with no errors (38-point gap)

Strongly disagreeing that Satan does not exist but is just a symbol of evil (36-point gap)

Saying that God created human beings in what is pretty much their present form, just as the Bible says (34-point difference)

Strongly agreeing that the Bible is totally accurate in the life principles it conveys (33-point gap)

“The ACFI survey revealed that the link between ideology and beliefs helps explain the recent election results. ‘Election surveys have pointed out how significant people’s candidate preference in the presidential race was to their hopes for the future,’ said Barna. ‘In that light, the Worldview Measurement Project surveys demonstrate the power of worldview, even in elections. Among all adults, those with a biblical worldview were more likely to vote than were those who did not. That is because a biblical worldview informs people that participating in the direction and leadership of society is a personal duty. Further, among voters who have a biblical worldview, 68% voted for Donald Trump and 27% voted for Hillary Clinton. Their primary motivation had to do with restoring traditional moral values. Among voters who do not have a biblical worldview, Mrs. Clinton held a 47% to 44% edge. She was the preference of those without a biblical worldview primarily in the hope of adopting more postmodern values’.”

It also explains why so many liberals are up in arms over everything President Donald Trump says and does. It often has nothing to do with what he actually does or says, but has everything to do with the irreconcilable differences between the two political factions, and until something breaks this deeply divided feud, nothing will ever be accomplished without major turmoil, bickering and lawsuits.

Knowing this, then realize that at this point, many of the details of the GOP healthcare plan are known, many are not and most could be in a state of flux and subject to change. However, here are several key points to report at this early stage:

1) The insurance mandate that penalized taxpayers from not having healthcare insurance goes away.

2) Instead of federal subsidies, individuals may qualify for ‘advanceable’ tax credits to help in the purchase of healthcare insurance. The tax credit amounts will generally range from $2,000 to $4,000 a year for lower and middle income families, depending on income, family size and age. Many critics say that the replacement of subsidies with the tax credits will leave millions of lower class and elderly people without healthcare due to the costs.

3) Pre-existing medical conditions will still coverable, but like Obamacare, nothing in the new plan says the coverage for pre-existing conditions will be affordable.

4) A broader selection of different types of policies will be available, including catastrophic policies.

5) Children up to the age of 26 will be allowed to remain under their parent’s healthcare policy.

6) Although Medicaid may first expand, it will eventually be reduced.

7) Most of the hidden and not-hidden taxes invoked by the Affordable Healthcare Act will be repealed. Some of those taxes involved prescriptions, over the counter medications, medical devices, etc.

8) The coverage for the ten essential healthcare benefits outlined in Obamacare will still be required. However, after December 31, 2019, those essential benefits will no longer be required in all policies, but will still be available depending on the needs of the policy holder. How this may help is an older couple will no longer have to pay for maternity or contraceptive coverages they no longer need, now will individuals be forced to pay for state Medicaid coverage they don’t need.

9) Under Obamacare, tax-exempt health savings accounts were capped at a maximum of $3,400 for individuals and $6,750 for families. The new limits would be raised to $6,550 for individuals and $13,100 for families.

One thing to consider with all the hype thrown at Obamacare and the GOP replacement healthcare is that it really only effects less than 10% of the entire US population. One report says that only 7% of the American population purchases their own healthcare insurance. Based on the population clock kept by the US Census, the current population is approximately 324.67 million meaning that only around 22.7 million are actually affected by the biggest story in the media. If you’re one of those, then it is a big deal and you’ll want to follow along and learn as much as possible of what kind of coverage you’ll get and how much it will cost you.

For reasons, completely unknown, the Democrats decided to tap former Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear to deliver the liberal party’s rebuttal to Trump’s address to Congress. With many prominent Democrats in Washington DC, it was more than a surprise to learn that Beshear was chosen for the sacred honor of ripping the President’s address to shreds. Perhaps one reason is the Beshear is a devout Obamanite disciple and did everything his master asked him to do.

Ask yourself why would the Democrats choose someone who just lost his political office to a Republican political novice who sounds a lot like Donald Trump? Republican Matt Bevin is a businessman who, like Trump, opposed many of the bureaucratic dictates of the Obama administration and defeated Democrat Jack Conway by a 511,374 to 426,620 vote margin.

Steve Beshear was elected governor of Kentucky in 2007. He had a big political following in the good ole boy state since he served in the state House of Representatives, state Attorney General and Lieutenant Governor. Once Barack Obama was elected, Beshear quickly made it known that he supported Obama’s socialist agenda 150%.

He couldn’t wait to implement Obamacare in Kentucky. When he was selected to be the mouthpiece for the Democratic slander of President Trump, Beshear was touted as being a champion of Obamacare in his state. All the media outlets bragged about how Beshear’s implementation of Obamacare lowered the state’s uninsured rate from 20% to 7.5%.

What they didn’t report is how much that was costing Kentucky taxpayers and how some people in Kentucky still could not afford the outrageous premiums associated with Obamacare.

After only a month in office, Bevin announced that he had put a plan in motion to transition from a state healthcare exchange program to using the federal exchange. In his statement, he stated that it makes no sense to pay twice for the same thing, meaning that those of us in Kentucky are paying taxes to support the federal exchange program and we pay state taxes to support the state exchange program. That’s an example of the failed economic plans of the Democrat Party.

Perhaps another reason so many people in Kentucky were able to get healthcare coverage under Obamacare is that they were able to qualify for the federal subsidy. We live in Kentucky and know of a number of residents who were able to purchase healthcare coverage only because they qualified for a federal subsidy. Every one of them said that without the federal subsidy, they would not be able to afford coverage because the costs were so high.

How high are the costs of Obamacare in Kentucky? My wife has a heart valve issue that is controlled with medication. I have Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and am overweight. When we priced an Obamacare policy in the Blue Grass State, we were shocked at the high price. The cheapest plan we could find was a bronze tier plan that had a $4,000 deductible and once that was met, would only pay 60% of covered expenses, which really equates to paying less than 50% of medical costs. How much did this great healthcare policy cost? $816 a month or nearly $10,000 a year. That’s like making a second mortgage payment each month for a plan that would still cost us thousands of dollars out of pocket.

“Even more troubling is that you and your Republican allies in Congress seem determined to rip affordable health insurance away from millions of Americans who most need it.

“So far, every Republican idea to ‘replace’ the Affordable Care Act would reduce the number of Americans covered, despite promises to the contrary.”

Oh really? Didn’t Obama promise that everyone in America would be covered under the Affordable Care Act? Didn’t Obama promise that the Affordable Care Act would lower the costs of healthcare insurance and increase the benefits, services and options everyone would have.

Millions of Americans lost their healthcare insurance under Obama. Millions saw their premiums skyrocket while the benefits, services and options drastically decreased. Thousands of doctors left the medical profession, numerous medical facilities and hospitals stopped taking Medicaid and other Obamacare patients because they were not getting paid as promised and many insurance companies have dropped policies and withdrawn from Obamacare.

And Beshear has the gall to criticize President Trump and Republicans for wanting to fix what they failed to deliver in the first place? This whole mess was created by liberal Democrats, not Republicans, so why are Republicans being vilified for wanting to fix or replace the Democrat’s disastrous program.

During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump promised to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. He and others have pointed out the many problems associated with Obamacare.

Millions of Americans have seen their premiums skyrocket and their coverage decrease meaning they are paying more for less. A growing number of doctors left their private practices, either joining a larger medical group or finding a whole new profession because under Obamacare, they earn less and have more rules and restrictions and paperwork. A number of hospitals have stopped accepting patients on Obama’s expanded Medicaid because they are not getting reimbursed for services as promised and are losing too much money. Obamacare established a number of co-ops to help provide coverage for lower income people, however, the majority of the co-ops have failed and closed. A number of the major healthcare insurance companies have dropped many of their Obamacare policies and others have or are planning to completely withdraw from providing any Obamacare policies. Millions of Americans have had their healthcare policies cancelled on them.

On a more positive note, a number of lower income individuals were able to purchase healthcare coverage with the help of the federal subsidies. Additionally, many people with pre-existing conditions were also able to obtain healthcare coverage for the first time in years.

However, even though Obamacare promised that pre-existing medical conditions would be covered, it never promised that coverage would be affordable. My wife has a minor heart condition that is treated with medication. I am overweight and have Type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure. When we shopped for healthcare, the cheapest policy we found was a bronze-tier plan that had a $4,000 deductible and then would only pay 60% of covered items and we all know how ‘covered items’ works. For this wonderful healthcare insurance policy, it would have cost us $816 a month. Like most Americans, there was no way we could afford to pay that much a month for so little coverage. It was cheaper to pay the tax penalty for the first couple of years. Thankfully, we both have Medicare now which although not great, is better than nothing.

In the wake of the election, President Donald Trump has vowed to keep his promise on Obamacare and has tasked Congress to come up with a workable replacement.

In the meantime, many Americans have been protesting and telling their politicians in Washington DC and the liberal media that they fear they will lose their current healthcare coverage if Obamacare is repealed. Trump has tried to reassure the worried public by saying that everyone will be covered, but saying and doing are two different things.

Many liberal critics have been saying that the Republicans have no plan to replace Obamacare with and others are saying that they have no idea how to proceed. No matter what the Republicans do or how good of a replacement they come up with, liberals will still pick and choose on what aspects to complain about. Not everyone will be satisfied and someone will always be unhappy and complain.

A recent report indicates that Washington Republicans are working on a draft for a healthcare replacement of Obamacare. Like most drafts, it is subject to change, so people should not start getting too worked up or bent out of shape over the preliminary reports such as those currently surfacing.

“The Feb. 10 document follows the broad policy outline released by Republicans last week just before they went home for a Congressional recess. It proposes cuts to federal payments to states that have expanded Medicaid and offers tax credits for people to buy health insurance…”

“Under the plan, states that expanded eligibility for Medicaid would see their supplemental federal funding rolled back. The program would also be converted from a federal-state program that pays for all the health care beneficiaries get, to one where Washington sends a fixed amount of money to each state for each Medicaid enrollee.”

“To help people who don’t get insurance through their employer buy coverage, the bill offers age-based tax credits that start at $2,000 for individuals under age 30. It would rise to $4,000 for those over 60. Those credits are unlikely to cover the full cost of a plan that pays for routine health care, but could potentially pay for insurance that protects against a catastrophic health event.”

The problem I see with offering a tax credit is that it only applies when you file your taxes, not when you have to pay out that monthly premium while trying to pay your mortgage/rent, keep the utilities on and food on the table.

Larry Levitt, Senior Vice President at the Kaiser Family Foundation commented about the early draft:

“This would mean fewer people could afford health insurance and that the health insurance would likely cover less.”

Like I said, this is an early draft and subject to a lot of change. I don’t envy those men and women tasked to find a workable placement, but be assured, Republicans are working on a plan and hopefully, it will be better than Obamacare.